Get On The Bus brings children and their caregivers from throughout the State of California to visit their mothers and fathers in prison.

An annual event, Get On The Bus offers free transportation for the children and their caregivers to the prison, provides travel bags for the children, comfort bags for the caregivers, a photo of each child with his or her parent, and meals for the day (breakfast, snacks on the bus, a special lunch at the prison with their parent and dinner on the way home), all at no cost to the children’s family. On the bus trip home, following a four hour visit, each child receives a teddy bear with a letter from their parent and post-event counseling.

The Chowchilla Family Express provides FREE TRANSPORTATION for the families and loved ones of the women incarcerated at the two prisons in Chowchilla, California to come visit. Each weekend one of our busses leaves from a different major city in California to take people to Valley State Prison for Women and the Central California Women’s Facility. See the Family Express Bus schedule.

This program is the result of a partnership between The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, the Center for Restorative Justice Works, and the Gender Responsive Commission.